UBI Banca

UBI Banca (Unione di Banche Italiane S.c.p.A) is an Italian Cooperative Group and a member of Euro Banking Association. This body is Italyís fifth largest banking group in view of branches. The groupís headquarters are situated and the bank operates mainly on the domestic market via extensive network of approximately 1,965 Italian branches. A large part of these structures cover the wealthy northern regions of Lombardia and Piedmonte while the rest are located in Central and Southern Italy. Having a market share of about 6 percent and total assets of Ä122.0 billion, UBI Banca is one of the major Italian holding companies. Approximately 21,000 employees work for the group and the number ofserved customers numbers nearly 4 million.

UBI Banca is listed at the Milan Stock Exchange, its shares being a part of the S&P/MIB index. Furthermore, UBI Banca is primarily engaged in retail banking, which makes up over three-quarters of its total revenues, as well as insurance and asset management. Furthermore, the body is in control of the publicly-traded IWBank, a provider of online banking and trading which operates in several European countries.

As a holding company, the group encompasses a network of nine cooperative banks. These are: UBI Banca Private Investment Banco di Brescia, Banca Regionale Europea, Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria, Banca Popolare di Ancona, Banca di Valle Camonica, Banca Carime, and Banco di San Giorgio. Part of the Groupís structure are also various product companies, involved mainly in insurance, leasing, investment, and factoring operations etc. In addition, the Group has international operations, based in Luxembourg and managed by UBI Banca International S.A.

A characteristic feature of UBI Banca is its dual system of governance, comprising of a Supervisory Board and a Management Board. Chairman of the Supervisory Board is Corrado Faissola while Emilio Zanetti is the Chairman of the Management Board, and Victor Massiah is the Groupís CEO.

UBI Banca was formed on April 1st, 2007 through the merger of Banche Popolari Unite and Banca Lombarda e Piemontese. These two banks have a long history of successive mergers. Banche Popolari Unite came into existence on July 1st, 2003? with the merger of Banca Popolare di Bergamo-Credito Varesino and Banca Popolare Commercio e Industria Groups.

Credito Agrario Bresciano and Banca San Paolo, both with a significant contribution to the banking industry in Brescia, were to merge on December 31st, 1998 and formed Banca Lombarda Group.